<--PREV Doc #1366  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1368 Document #1367; November 9, 1959 Memorandum Series: EM, AWF, Ann Whitman Diary Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VIII: "Friends and Foes"; September 1959 to February 1960 Chapter 19: Khrushchev in America   Memorandum for the Record: On Saturday morning, November 7th, the Supreme Court approved the injunction ordering the steel workers back to their jobs for a period of eighty days.1 From the very beginning of negotiations between steel management and the union, I have been indirectly--or even occasionally directly--in contact with some of the participating individuals, so as to keep in touch with the issues that seemed to be primarily at stake. My principal informant has been Secretary Mitchell.2 What seems to be involved primarily is different convictions concerning the so-called "work rules."3 The management seems to believe that these rules are antiquated and in themselves compel an inefficient type of operation that helps to price their products out of the market, especially foreign markets. On the other hand, the union labels as trust-busting any attempt to change these so-called work rules. Secretary Mitchell and I believe that the management does not comprehend how seriously the union membership takes this matter. The management seems to believe that the issues are raised merely to achieve a better wage settlement. On the other hand, the union asserts that it has never stood in the way of improved technology and in achieving automation. It insists that it is quite ready to submit arguments on this point to arbitration. On Friday evening, November sixth, Mr. McDonald came to see me, off the record.4 He was accompanied by Secretary Mitchell. He professed himself as being very anxious for a fair and just and non-inflationary settlement, and he seemed to believe that Mr. Cooper, the negotiator for the steel management, is not only very rigid and stupid but is obsessed with a distorted conviction as to the importance of these so-called work rules.5 I sent Secretary Mitchell to see Mr. Blough, President of U. S. Steel and to keep in very close touch with the matter to see whether something might be done.6 Mr. Blough and Mr. McDonald met either Saturday or Sunday for a two hour meeting and have agreed to meet again on Wednesday. I earnestly hope that something will be done promptly.7 1 For background see no. 1287. On November 7, 1959, the Supreme Court had upheld, in an 8 to 1 ruling, the constitutionality of the Taft-Hartley injunction (invoked by Eisenhower on October 19) and its application to the steel strike (New York Times, Oct. 10, 20, Nov. 8, 1959). 2 See Eisenhower, Waging Peace, pp. 453 - 59. 3 The steel industry had demanded greater authority over work practices at the plant level in order to end "featherbedding," and had made agreement to such changes a precondition to any pay raise. The union held that the old rules did not obstruct maximum output and that the industry sought new rules only to restore "industrial dictatorship." It had offered to guarantee that work rules were not intended to block progress, or to leave the issue to future study by a joint committee (New York Times, Oct. 10, 1959). 4 David John McDonald (Carnegie Institute of Technology 1932) had served as president of the United Steelworkers of America since 1953. He was concurrently vice-president of the AFL-CIO. Eisenhower had met with McDonald for 70 minutes on the evening of November 5. Following the meeting the President called Secretary of Labor Mitchell to say that McDonald "really wants to settle. He really wants to compromise. He has a political problem and he does not quite know how to handle it with his own union" (see Ann Whitman memorandum, Nov. 5, 1959, AWF/AWD). 5 Richard Conrad Cooper (B.S. University of Minnesota 1926) had served as U.S. Steel executive vice-president for administration and planning since 1955. For more on Cooper’s bargaining position see Tiffany, The Decline of American Steel, pp. 162 - 65. 6 Roger M. Blough (A.B. Susquehanna University 1925; LL.B. Yale 1931) had joined U.S. Steel as general solicitor in 1942, becoming executive vice-president for law in 1951. He had succeeded Benjamin Fairless as chairman in 1955 and was currently U.S. Steel’s chief executive officer. 7 For developments see no. 1375. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. Memorandum, 9 November 1959. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1367. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/1367.cfm <--PREV Doc #1366  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1368

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission 1629 K Street, NW Suite 801 Washington DC 20006 Phone: 202.296.0004    Fax: 202.296.6464